Silas glances at it and then looks back at Kate. ‘Lucky Rob,’ he says, forcing a smile. He’s tried over the years not to feel jealous of others’ wealth. In his experience, money rarely brings happiness. But the sight of a £90,000 electric whip still niggles him.

‘If he has bought another Tesla, it’ll be in London,’ Kate continues. ‘With Rob. But then someone thought they saw him in the village this morning.’

‘And?’ Silas asks. Last time he looked, he was working for Wiltshire CID not bloody Relate.

‘Can you check? You know, the number plates. See if it was his new car?’

‘If it’s been stolen, Rob needs to report it,’ Silas says.

‘I don’t think it’s been stolen.’

Where’s Kate going with this? She seems so ill at ease, uncomfortable. ‘Can’t you just check with Rob?’ he asks.

‘Not really,’ Kate says, looking down awkwardly.

‘If you give us the number plate, we’ll run a search,’ Strover interjects, glancing at Silas, who turns away. She’s out of order, but the damage is done.

‘Won’t be a moment,’ Kate says, walking over to the corner of the kitchen, where she finds a scrap of paper. ‘Someone in the village made a note of it.’

‘Thanks,’ Strover says, taking it.

Silas will talk to her later.

39

Kate

‘You just need to speak to Rob,’ Bex says, glancing at the missing person poster that DI Hart left on the kitchen table. ‘Ask him up front if he was here this morning in a new car. End of. For your own sanity.’

She’s right. Kate was about to call him when Hart and Strover dropped in to say goodbye. She feels sorry for Hart. His son has caused him so much pain in recent years. She’ll keep an eye out for him, for what it’s worth. Scan the summer crowds on the beaches. Old habits die hard.

‘Will you also talk to Rob?’ Kate asks.

‘Gladly,’ Bex says. ‘Give him a piece of my mind.’

Kate’s angry with him too. Earlier, they’d worked themselves up into a gin-soaked lather as they discussed the possibility that Rob might have come back down to Cornwall without telling her. Was it to see the woman who met him at Truro station? It might explain why Rob didn’t wave back at Mark. Kate’s also frightened. And still a little drunk, which isn’t helping her paranoia. If it wasn’t Rob in the car, who was it?

‘I’ll start by asking him what he’s been doing today – in a casual way, of course,’ she says, for her own benefit as much as Bex’s. ‘But we also need to see where he’s speaking from.’